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CNC Plasma Table Build

06-06-2010, 10:11 PM

I have not posted here for a while, but I had a new sizable project I've been working on and I figured I'd post it up here since it was welded exclusively with my Miller 350P and Passport welders. My welding these days is terrible, not enough projects to keep my skills up. However that's not the point, you always work towards improving.

I've built a table that has a work envelope of roughly 48x50". I figured some may be interested in seeing another build in progress. I'm documenting the process on cnczone.com (HERE) but I'll post a few pics here. I'll also be building a plate marker for engraving as an offset tool and I think I'll add a add a few slide rails under the table to hold some sheet material. This table is way over built, but my thoughts are if I upgrade to a larger table in the future I can easily convert this to a welding table with a 5/8" top with a bit of cutting and rewelding of the support tubes. I think the most difficult part will be building the 14ga water tray which is removable. That's going to be a lot of stitching.

I'm working on the operator interface now, and still have some wire management and brackets to build that will support the PC and Plasma Cutter. The lower shelf is used for storage of sheet goods and scrap - you still have to dig through it, but it's close by. I'll summarize with some pics, but if you follow the gallery link above you can see six pages of build pictures that will continue to grow. Now that the table is up and running (still tuning), I can cut parts for additional things I'm working on. I made a VESA monitor mount today and it came out perfect.

Comment

I drew up an adjustment keyboard mount with a single hand knob to adjust the angle from fully vertical to roughly a 45 degree angle. It's going to work out well since you only need a few mouse clicks to load up a file and click RUN. I tested tolerances of the table today for the first time by creating some slip fit holes in the parts to slide in .750" square tubing. I looked around for the smallest piece of square I had and that was it. The width of the keyboard tray will be roughly 22.5" inches. I'll most likely be integrating a keyboard/touchpad combo onto this, instead of using a mouse. I have a Logitech Edge bluetooth keyboard I can test with, but I'm not putting a $140 keyboard on this table.

I did some further adjustments to the torch height and also adjusted my DHTC cut profiles. I need to spend an hour or so creating all of the necessary profiles for different materials.

I have not tacked together the keyboard tray yet, so in the pictures it's just slid together sitting upside down. Once welded, I'll cut a top for it on the plasma table and then round the leading edge on my 48" National box/pan brake. I think that will give it a nicely finished look I have a piece of stainless but I'm not sure if it's large enough. If not, I'll have to pick up a larger remnant either from Ebay or a local supplier. I'm also going to cut some cup holder mounts out of stainless and bend them up to accept a stainless drop in cup holders. No garage tool is finished until it has a beverage holder! Ever experienced a California summer in the valley? You need a beverage holder!

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Here is the text from your first post. In the future resize your pics first so they don't bump into the ads.

I have not posted here for a while, but I had a new sizable project I've been working on and I figured I'd post it up here since it was welded exclusively with my Miller 350P and Passport welders. My welding these days is terrible, not enough projects to keep my skills up. However that's not the point, you always work towards improving.

I've built a table that has a work envelope of roughly 48x50". I figured some may be interested in seeing another build in progress. I'm documenting the process on cnczone.com (HERE) but I'll post a few pics here. I'll also be building a plate marker for engraving as an offset tool and I think I'll add a add a few slide rails under the table to hold some sheet material. This table is way over built, but my thoughts are if I upgrade to a larger table in the future I can easily convert this to a welding table with a 5/8" top with a bit of cutting and rewelding of the support tubes. I think the most difficult part will be building the 14ga water tray which is removable. That's going to be a lot of stitching.

I'm working on the operator interface now, and still have some wire management and brackets to build that will support the PC and Plasma Cutter. The lower shelf is used for storage of sheet goods and scrap - you still have to dig through it, but it's close by. I'll summarize with some pics, but if you follow the gallery link above you can see six pages of build pictures that will continue to grow. Now that the table is up and running (still tuning), I can cut parts for additional things I'm working on. I made a VESA monitor mount today and it came out perfect.

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BTW, awesome job. I didn't think I needed a plasma table until recently I have been using one at a company I am doing some work for. Now I am gearing up to build one. Hopefully mine will turn out as well as yours.

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My pics are 800x600 - far resized from the native 3264x2448 they were captured at. If this forum cannot support 800x600 pictures in 2010, then someone needs to go back to web design 101. This site has an annoying width limitation which really isn't industry standard. I have a 27" iMac with a 2560x1440 display, and I can fit three+ of Miller's site on my screen horizontally. Even maximizing my browser, it only uses a little over a third of my display.

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Awsome job. Do you have any plans or drawings for this. This is my next project.
T.J.

Not really. I had the gantry drawing from Precision Plasma which has a width and length you have to build to, and also take into consideration the gantry tube distance to the cutting table height. Otherwise I visualized in my head and started cutting parts. I will be prototyping a bolt together table using a similar gantry kit from Precision Plasma. With my table operational, I can cut a variety of parts in house now for projects like this.

I'm loving the capabilities this gives me though. I did get my keyboard mount frame done and test fitted. I just need to order a piece of stainless and bend it up to become the top.

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Not sure how many people have made their version of "Plasma Quench", but I went ahead and mixed some up for my table which holds roughly 70 gallons of water. I have seen zero corrosion in nearly a week, and I can say from having straight water in the table for one night, it was rusted badly the next day.

I finally found some dye which would work to finish it off. At $70 a pint, it's not cheap, but it treats 12,500 gallons of water and will last a very long time. I put just a little bit in the table and then drained 4-5 gallons of water into a bucket, which I then poured back into the table to mix up the dye. It worked out well, and looks just like the real thing.

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I'm putting the finishing touches on the operators center this weekend. I got some additional parts in from McMaster and I should receive my stainless steel to form the top on my brake next week. Today I received an Industrial Air 60 Gallon 155 PSI Compressor from Home Depot, so I've been working on that. When I got it, I read "Assembled with care in MN". Cool I thought, that's where my family is from. I get it wired up, install a ball valve to so I can have it build some pressure after the 30 minute breakin - it's a hisser. I took my time and did the wiring all nice, and then I had to rip it all out because some asshat didn't put any teflon tape or thread sealant on the threads where the cycle switch goes into the top of the tank. The switch side had some 290 or similar Loctite, but the bottom had nothing. So I had to take all that apart so I could seal it up. Now I'm doing a pressure test to see what else is leaking. It's not a Quincy or Eaton, but fills in a little over 6 minutes to 155 PSI which isn't bad. It's not quite, but it's not overly annoying either.

Anyhow here's a pic of an address sign I cut for my house. I'm learning how to draw which is a more complicated process than I thought it would be. Now that I understand the cutting process a bit more it's easier to stop making mistakes in the drawings because you see the results of it in past screw ups. I still have some improvements to do, but each day I'm getting better results. I also had to replace a control board in the CandCNC control box, because the original had a design issue which was causing missed steps. After a while my gantry would be twisted on the table due to the motors not getting the right step signals. Anyhow that's all fixed and I ran a long program, then measured each side in reference to the gantry track to make sure it's staying accurate. I also cut a 2.77" hole as drawn in my CAD program, and when measured with my digital caliper it was 2.761 on average. I'm very impressed with the accuracy on thiner sheet goods. Can't wait to get the 30A consumables in as that should help with some detail work for lettering.

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I hooked up my new 60 gallon compressor with a Norgren filter and regulator in place of my 6 Gallon Porter Cable compressor I was using previously. It has made a nice difference in the cut quality and dross.

Here are some pictures of adjustment brackets I'm prototyping for a racing stand project I'm working on. The bottom one is the top side of the cut, the other one is flipped upside down to show the bottom of the cut. I've had some interest in my first prototype I built for a buddy, so I may fabricate them using my JMR bender and 1-1/4" square tube with minimal welding. In place of the crappy angle brackets I used on the first one, I cut these out of 12 GA for testing. I'd probably settle on 1/8", but the 12GA may prove sturdy enough in testing. I have not removed any dross and this was cut on a Powermax 45, 190 IPM, 45A with T45M torch. I'm learning every hour I work with this thing what to do. I still have an occasional issue with the DHTC cutting off my cuts even though I can cut a part several times without issue, then all of the sudden have torch issues on ever pierce almost. For reference I tried cutting this at 140 IPM and there was a lot more dross.

Here's the stand I built and what these would replace to support the center 1/2" roundbar.

Forza fans anyone?

Can't wait to get the 30A consumables in for this thinner stuff. I also begun work on my scriber / plate marker and hope to have that going in the next couple of weeks if I get some time to machine the parts for